Anna Lindh

One of Sweden’s most prominent pro-European voices. As her country’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lindh played a significant role in strengthening Sweden’s presence in the EU, when she chaired the meetings of foreign ministers during Sweden’s EU presidency in 2001. When the risk of conflict emerged in 2001 in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (now North Macedonia), Anna Lindh, in her capacity as EU special envoy, was instrumental in harmonizing the EU’s typically heterogeneous views on foreign policy and helped avoid further conflicts.
Ylva Anna Maria Lindh, a lawyer, was actively involved in politics from a young age. She was elected to parliament in 1982. Twelve years later, she was appointed Minister of Environment. She became Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1998 in the Persson government. She had a reputation for openly expressing her views and particularly advocating for human rights.
She was assassinated in September 2003, after being stabbed while shopping in a store in central Stockholm.